Crystal River current., 1887-06-11
Baby's Golden Curl.

John Challoncr was feeling utterly
miserable. He was a brown bearded.
sturdy-looking man, with every out
ward appearance of health and pros
peritv; but as he sat there in the corner
of the railway carriage, with his hands
thrust deeply into The capacious pock-
cts of his fur-lined coat, and with his
travelling cap pulled low over his eyes,
doubt if there were so wretched a
man in the whole of that London ex-
press.
There was terrible storm on, for it
was the Christmas eve of rs. and dcs-
tined to be a memorable night in the an
mails of the weather almanacs; but rs
he sat there watching the snow being
hurled in compact masses against the
windows. John Challoner felt q certain
grim satisfaction that nature should be
in accordance with his own tcmpestu-
Gus thoughts. He was not very sure of
their present whereabouts, but as far
as he could Judge. the train was already
some hours late. and was progressing
at very slow rate indeed. Well, what
did it matter. after all, whether or not
he was home in tine tor the Christmas
Day? The big dreary house. that :.
girls youpp presence hail seemed to
id ,ri,,, .,,,,sI.;,,,. ,,.,,,,l,1,,,., avn,
L.. ,,, -, a,,. .t,at t,1a. ,.;,I
"iN vi u'''' w. NV '''''
had left it forever. There would be
Sarah, OF course, the silent elder sister,
who had watched over Johns mother
Lass bo,hood AVID vii, r,,..J li,, will,
;o.,9.,. ,;,,..,,;,,.,, a., Cit
eo JAW, :, Wv o''U"' '''' ~ gu
WASH MadSe' ana 1t was M"'Se ne
wanted. Not that lie would have adj
mtted rs much for moment; that
would have been loo re,,icl,Ious: when
il was only last ni@ht. after a somewhat
proionoed visit TO the Scottish metro
nolis that he had been talkinp 10 "A
lawyer in Edinburrb. and r:yin,s him
jnstruc,fo us about The drawin~ nm of
the paper which was 10 separate the
husband and wIfp. John wis TO 90 his
way. and Madye WAS to 20 hers And
this was the emil of those four wears of
married life which had opeued so BRIGHT
TX and we'll. tn : was tl,e.cud of that
first tiny quarrel. when Challoner had
FORGOTTEN lire promise TO take his o RI
viii, to an csn,.cf,l dance. and had snent
the EVENING AMONGST The books which
b.,5 h.eu tI,o soie con,u,ufons Of his
hitherto solitary life. Whose actual
fault WINS il that tlinos had come to this
nassp In what had The trnublc consist
ed that there mad been such inrrino in
the home that tiny bod Intimately de-
cided tn live ,h.ir -liyrs ,n,rto
The train went slower and slower.
the freshly fallcn snow Law in hioh banks
on either side. hut John ChaIIoner's
,honobt, never wandered from tn. old
sore Subject. One by one he recalled
the various landmarks of those four
wears. How bitterly Sarah bad resent
ed the advent of the youn~ bride. how
impossibl. he had found it to live n
sorietv | f. with Mudoc and vct oct
through the necessary literary work
which meant his liveliEood; how eager
IL his youn,e cousin. Charles Tnorne
had voIuntcrrcd to take her to DANCES
and so on in his stead. Then he re-
called their lille dauri,e,.'s birth. and
the clad homes that had sprung into
life as he took his inv Christmas rose
in his stalwart arms and tried 10 trace
the motber-look in the baby features
Rut the b,f,. had only lived ia spe her
second birthday, and with her death
"the rift w;n,hin The lntc'' had slowly
widcned. and tbe fain. music VIII oh
still had echoed in their daily lives was
turned into ianplfno discord ..Madoe
was fonder Of ,o1no Tborne than of
John himself. :" Sarah had aver,ed: and
the moor fellow had been forced to
acouesce when barely had the deod
child been laid 10 resi-, before her moth
or had taken nm the old whirl of d ssipa-
tion with Cbarl q Tborne in constant
attendance
There was notb;po. think. which
John Cballongr felt so bitterly as this
same apparent hard heartedness. 1t
il not often that men care for ycrv